Multi-Functional Cardanol Triazine Schiff Base Polyimine Additives for Self-Healing and Super-Hydrophobic Epoxy of Steel Coating

The designing of multifunctional materials in system-level efficiency is one of the main targets and a hot topic for the application of novel green or bio-based materials and structures. In this work, the chemical structure of bio-based cardanol that was derived from cashew oil was modified through a reaction with a bishydrazino-s-triazine derivative followed by condensation polymerization or reaction with terephthaldehyde to obtain a Schiff base polymer. The chemical structures of the modified cardanol-bishydrazino-s-triazine-based monomer and the Schiff base polymer were confirmed from FTIR and NMR spectroscopy analyses. The modified cardanol bishydrazino-s-triazine monomer and polymer were added with different weight ratios during the curing of the epoxy/polyamine hardener to improve the thermal, mechanical, and anti-corrosion characteristics of the epoxy coating of a steel substrate. The data elucidated that the presence of a cardanol bishydrazino-s-triazine monomer and polymer improves the thermal, mechanical, adhesion, and anti-corrosion characteristics of epoxy coatings after exposure for more than 1500 h. The presence of a cardanol- bishydrazino-s-triazine polymer more than 3 wt.% during the curing of epoxy networks produces superhydrophobic and self-healing epoxy coatings. The modification of the epoxy coating with the cardanol bishydrazino-s-triazine polymer improves the seawater contact angle by more than 150 degrees and the adhesion strength of the epoxy coating with the steel surface.